The Humiliation's Jimmy Sioukas scores the opening goal in Friday's Winners' Bracket match vs. the Parkdale Hockey Lads. The Humiliation would go on to win 2-1 and advance to the semifinals.

TORONTO - The Parkdale Hockey Lads were edged 2-1 by the Humiliation, and the Wheatfield Souldiers shutout the Jokers 1-0 this past Friday night at historic Maple Leaf Gardens. With the wins, the victors of the two tight, back-and-forth matches advanced to the semifinals of the UUHA 2018 Playoffs scheduled for Saturday, March 24 at Upper Canada College.

In the meantime, this coming Saturday will see the Beau's Beer Hack host the Parkdale Porcupines at 7:00 pm at UCC, while the Gas Station Islanders take on the Brockton Rockets an hour later. The winners of those games will face off against either the Lads or the Jokers later the same evening in the two quarter-final games.

Humiliation forward Jimmy Sioukas was first to light the lamp on Friday evening, picking off a Lads pass attempt in the neutral zone late in the 1st period and skating it in to beat goaltender Luis Freitas with a quick wrist shot. The Black Wizards went up 2-0 midway through the 2nd period when team veteran Stephen Cribbin converted a play involving Luke Scheer and Mike Thompson. Despite posting dominant shot and puck-possession numbers for most of the game, the Lads were unable to solve Humiliation goalie Luke Smit until the 24 second mark of the 3rd when, with their net empty for the extra attacker, Fernando Freitas combined with Donal Lucey and Ian Seeton to halve the deficit. But the goal proved too little, too late as the Lads (who ended up outshooting their opponent 28 to 12) registered their first loss since December 2, 2017 (a 2-1 decision vs. the Brockton Rockets).

Although the result wasn't the one the Lads were hoping for, neither team could claim to be too surprised by the outcome, which seemed likely to come down to a single-goal difference. After all, the teams' two previous meetings had both ended in ties: a 3-3 result back in September, and a rare scoreless draw on January 20. Had Friday night's game ended with the score tied, a shootout would've been undertaken to determine a clear winner.

In the night's other Winners' Bracket contest, a game-deciding shootout seemed a likely scenario as well, with neither the Jokers nor the Wheatfield Souldiers able to solve respective goaltenders Burke Larence or Sheldon Shurland for the bulk of the first two frames. That changed with a minute-and-a-half remaining in the 2nd period, when Souldiers scoring leader Eric Toth corralled a pass from linemate Scott Pettus and swept across the crease just long enough to find a seam up and over Lawrence's stick side. The Jokers responded by outshooting the Souldiers 8-3 in the 3rd period, but were held scoreless by Shurland - a scenario the Funniest Team on Ice has become woefully familiar with this season: the loss was the third consecutive game in which the Jokers have been shutout by the Souldiers.

The Souldiers and Humiliation will now await the results of this coming Saturday's quarter-final matches to see who they will play in the following weekend's semifinals. The winners of the semis will advance to the Championship Final, while the losers of the semis will compete in the Bronze Medal Game. Both of those contests - along with the Consolation Final - are scheduled for Saturday, April 7 at UCC.